More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhonescreens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning.

Apple (which declined to comment for the Times) is not the only company that has issues like this: Foxconn, its principal supplier, assembles 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics, period. And Apple may be moving in the right direction when it comes to doing stuff about this and discussing the situation openly. But if you own Apple products or other gadgets made in China–and you do–you owe it to yourself to read the Times’ stories.

The tension’s definitely ratcheting up as Google and China trade accusations and denials over who’s responsible for weeks of sluggish Gmail service.

Google recently claimed no foul and blamed China for turning the country’s version of Gmail into a slideshow. The company then took it one further, suggesting the slowdown was “a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail” (though Google didn’t offer technical evidence to illustrate the problem).

As the slowdown continues to morph into an “all but” shutdown, it’s China’s turn to deny. Beijing officially rejected Google’s claims yesterday, its Foreign Ministry spokesperson calling the accusations “unacceptable” at a routine news conference, though that’s all she said.

The concept of “free internet” never really takes hold until the very first moment you sit down at a Chinese computer and type in “Facebook.com.” Here in China, it’s blocked. And even though tech giant Google pulled out of mainland China over a year ago, it’s only been harder to access Google’s services recently.

One of the most noticeable effects of China’s Great Firewall as of late has been Gmail’s increased inaccessibility. The slowdown has been reportedly going on for weeks, since early March. A source in Beijing reports that Gmail has been “…slower definitely. By far. Sometimes we’ve been unable to connect, and many times unable to use Gchat.”

Surprise! PC Maker Lenovo is making a video game console called the Ebox, and has no qualms about mentioning it in the same breath as Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360.

Like Kinect, the Ebox operates without a controller, instead using a camera that beams out infrared light to detect body shapes. “We are the world’s second company to produce a controller-free game console, behind only Microsoft,” Jack Luo, president of Lenovo’s spin-off gaming company eedoo Technology, told China Daily.

Lenovo plans to debut the Ebox in China this November, but the launch could get pushed to next year. Games for the console will have elements of Chinese culture, intended to appease a government that prohibits the sale of game consoles for fear that they physically and mentally harm the nation’s children. At launch, 30 games will be available, and 16 global game developers have reportedly signed on.

So, what are the odds that the Ebox becomes available stateside? IDG News reports that the console will launch throughout Asia sometime after the debut in China, with other overseas markets to follow, but I’m guessing those plans hinge on whether the Ebox is a success in its home country. The reported support from game developers is encouraging, but so far the lack of photo or video of actual games being played raises some skepticism.

Anyway, let’s see how Microsoft’s Kinect performs first, as it remains to be seen whether controller-free play is the future of gaming or just a passing fad. If Kinect somehow becomes an industry-changing force on par with Nintendo’s Wii, Lenovo’s Ebox won’t be the only clone to watch out for.

US-China relations have turned contentious over the past several months, particularly in regard to the issue of “Internet freedom.” But neither nation has an unblemished record on Internet privacy, says Eben Moglen, a Columbia University law professor and founder of the Software Freedom Law Center.

Last month, Google declared that it has discovered cyberattacks on its systems targeting Chinese humans rights workers, and made a decision to terminate the censored version of Google in China as a response.

You’ve got to decide: Do you want to obey the laws of the countries you’re in, or not? If not, you may not end up doing business there…

[snip]

The Chinese efforts to censor the Internet have been very limited. It’s easy to go around it, and so I think keeping the Internet thriving there is very important.

You can certainly make the case that by staying in China, U.S. Internet businesses are more likely to bring about greater freedom of expression than if they refuse to abide by censorship laws and abandon the country. And Gates is right that the Great Firewall of China is easy to circumvent. But I’ve used the Internet in China–as, surely, has Bill Gates–and I wouldn’t call the censorship “very limited…”